Sean Payton could be the hottest NFL free agent in 2013, and the New Orleans Saints now need to work to make sure he doesn’t hit the market.

With news that the suspended coach’s contract extension has been voided, every team that’s looking to make a change next season should want him. There’s only one, the Dallas Cowboys—who likely are in the last season of Jason Garrett’s tenure—that has a real chance of getting him if it's determined Payton's existing contract doesn't carry over to next season.

Given everything in Payton’s past and present that ties him to Dallas, it would be a tempting proposition. His billionaire friend Jerry Jones would ensure money isn’t an issue. But assuming his other billionaire friend, Saints owner Tom Benson, is willing to pay whatever it takes to keep him, Payton’s best fit for 2013 still is with New Orleans.

Payton, through a FOX Sports report Sunday, said he “absolutely plans to be a New Orleans Saint” beyond a lost 2012 season. There’s every reason for Payton to follow up on that sentiment and stay away from a Cowboys looming opening that isn’t as good as it looks.

The bounty scandal was a black mark on the Saints, but that hasn’t wavered the thinking that Benson wants Payton and suspended general manager Mickey Loomis to run the key parts of the football operation. Why wouldn’t he?

The winning combination of Payton and Loomis not only has produced a Super Bowl victory, but has put New Orleans on the map as a popular national team well beyond the Bayou. They’re a marquee franchise, thanks to the offense Payton has created with Drew Brees at the controls and the great talent Loomis brings there to maintain its status as an elite scoring machine.

The Saints were 2-5 going into their latest prime-time game, Monday night’s home matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles. Although much of their struggles as a sub-par team have been tied to a reeling new-look defense, there’s no doubt they are missing Payton's moxie, making the two-time Sporting News NFL coach of the year more valuable to them than ever.

Jones and the Cowboys are desperate in Dallas, needing someone who can quickly turn a talented team that’s now 3-5 into a championship-caliber franchise. But with Jones’ own admission, the window is closing there.

Payton has a home in the Dallas area. From 2003-05, he thrived working for Jones as the right-hand man to the last high-profile Cowboys coach, Bill Parcells. He was once seen as Parcells’ successor, but that was before Payton left for the Saints in 2006.

That was nearly seven years ago. Things have changed greatly for both franchises. Now the Saints are seen as the perennial Super Bowl threat, while the Cowboys are seen as the underachieving team that can’t get back into the playoffs.

There is the good relationship with Tony Romo, whom Payton, sharing the same alma mater (Eastern Illinois), helped Parcells bring in as an undrafted free agent. Romo, even with all his ups and downs, has remained one of the league’s true franchise quarterbacks since.

But Romo is now 32, and there are no guarantees he’ll be in Dallas beyond 2013, the last year of his current contract. Payton will need Romo to think about taking the Cowboys to the Super Bowl, and the chance to work with him closely again will sound good.

Then you think about the great bond and play-calling mind meld Payton has developed with Brees, who is just one year older than Romo at 33. Brees is much more accomplished, and Payton knows Brees won’t be leaving New Orleans until he retires. It will be a while before Brees’ record-setting play as a passer drops off, if it ever does.

Then there’s the connection with Loomis. Payton knows he’s got a G.M. who thinks the way he does. With the Cowboys, where Jones has no intentions of replacing himself as top personnel man, Payton would have no idea what he’s getting.

All things being equal—and Benson will work to make the money part of that equation—sticking with Brees, Loomis and the Saints give Payton the best chance to remain a highly successful NFL coach and get back to the Super Bowl. The Cowboys would just be setting him for a disappointment.